


where my demon hides

by shadowkissed



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Demons, Demon Deals, M/M, Mentioned Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun, Mentions of Blood, Mentions of alcohol, One-sided Choi Beomgyu/Choi Soobin, college party?, indulgent writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:36:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24822469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowkissed/pseuds/shadowkissed
Summary: beomgyu is a bored college student who accidentally summoned a demon into his statistic classroom.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 32
Kudos: 389





	where my demon hides

when beomgyu enrolled into this course, he only focused on the benefits he’d reap the moment he graduated. business and management is a popular course with a promising career ahead of his life, and he just has to endure four years of studies to get his diploma. now that he is facing the fact that he has to attend the classes for real, he starts to rethink his decision.

just a year into college life and he is already sick of the thick books, business terms, and statistical formulas swarming his head. no matter how you look at it, there is nothing fun about sitting in this vast classroom, pretending to jot down notes while his professor eagerly explains something that won’t penetrate into the thick cloud filling his head.

he’s not sure if it’s his innate resistant towards statistics or he’s just too dumb to understand the topic.

while everyone is jotting down notes or taking pictures of the charts displayed by a huge projector before them, beomgyu is butchering his notebooks.

his mind is somewhere away from the class halfway through it. the point of his red pen almost rips through the paper of his notebook as he randomly draws circles and intricate symbols all over it. it started with a cute doodle that now turned into something straight out of a witchcraftery 101 textbook. blame choi yeonjun and his obsession to satanic cult documentaries and movies that he dragged beomgyu to watch during weekends.

it’s also the reason why his eyes are so heavy right now, ready to send him into dreamland if only he just succumbs into the temptation. except, this professor’s hawk eye would definitely catch him. and he really doesn’t want to retake this class next term.

that’s why he is somewhat keeping himself away drawing these signs over and over again, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as if he is actually doing the work assigned to the class.

a few minutes left of the class, and he is tearing into the page with the tip of his pen, feeling the drowsiness takes over him this time. he is losing the battle. slowly, and surely, getting dragged into the dark and bottomless pit of this incoming slumber—

until he’s jerked back into reality as he sees a flash of red on his peripheral vision.

it’s nothing. it should be nothing other than his imagination. until he turns to his side and spots someone standing next to his table, towering over him with an intimidating air around him. his arms are folded across his chest and his chin tipped up in a smug way despite his eyes cast down on beomgyu. and then he caught his hair. the red colour blazing so brightly in the middle of this mundane class.

“what the hell do you want?” the pretty guy spits.

beomgyu blinks a few times, confounded. “excuse me, who are you?”

“you summoned me fifty-seven damn times and you don’t know _who_ i am? how horrendous,” he scoffs, throwing his gaze all over the room. nobody else appears to be bothered by the presence of this guy standing in the middle of the class, not even the professor who has started another round of class discussions. “what kind of place is this anyway? no blood, no sacrificial lamb? do you humans even still do that? i don’t mind another kind of payment though. demons can’t be picky nowadays with how rare we are getting job offers.”

it’s getting more bizarre the more awake beomgyu is. he stares at the male with his mouth hang open, words starting to fill his head and clicking into place like a puzzle.

summoning. blood. demons.

whether it has something to do with the last satanic cult movie he watched with yeonjun or not (mind you, it had a gory ending), it’s enough to fill him with all kind of fears. it’s intensified tenfold when he looks into the redhead’s dark eyes which slowly turn into a lighter colour. a glistening yellow one, as he reaches out.

“wh-what. this can’t be, right? are you a cosplayer—why are you…”

his question trails off in a whisper as he feels a contact on his skin. it comes in the form of sharp nails dragging along the skin of his jaw, before he feels an unusually cold hand cupping his chin.

“i take human soul as a payment too,” the words trickled out of the pretty lips stretched into a smile, dripping with something that reminds him of a thick sugar liquid and crackling firewood.

it alarms him a few seconds too late, as he breaks into a yelp, tripping on his own seat on his way to run away and ended up with his ass on the floor. his fear is too palpable now that he can taste it on his tongue, numbing all his sensations to the point that he can’t register the pain.

the next thing he feels is shame, when he notices the pairs of eyes belonged to his classmates staring down at him. no one says a thing, until he hears the eerie footstep of dressing shoes walking firmly towards his direction.

he can feel his doom coming before he sees it materialize before his eyes in the form of his professor.

“choi beomgyu, do you have anything to add into the discussion?” he asks, tapping a shoe against the floor.

“no sir, i’m so sorry, i was paying attention when this guy bothered me!“ he makes a gesture towards the red haired guy, shrinking under the glares given to him from both the prof and the source of his problem.

“me?” comes a shrilly voice of the girl who occupied the seat next to him, looking like a mix of incredulity and irritation. “i didn’t even talk to you!”

“i’m sure ms. lee was paying attention to the lesson well, so unless you were talking to your imaginary friend, i’m not sure what you were implying,” the prof says, earning muffled laughter from the rest of the class. “time’s up for today’s class. choi beomgyu, deliver a presentation about the topic next meeting.”

he stammers, watching as the prof turns around on his heels to go back to the front of the class while the rest of his classmates start tidying up their stuff. ”b-but, i’m not lying… he—“as he lifts his gaze towards where the redhead was standing, that’s when he realizes that no one is there.

he sits there for a while even after the last student left the class, dumbfounded. it feels too real to just be a figment of his imagination or a dream. he can still feel the chill from the touch on his face when he remembers it, as well as the pair of dark eyes staring into his soul just before they flash in feline yellow.

it’s not until hours later that he sees the pair of dark eyes again.

by this time, the memory of that boy already fades into the back of his head, especially as he has convinced himself that it was just a dream. he had a fun lunch break, winning a competitive race towards the cafeteria’s bakery and scored a limited edition strawberry roll cake that he liked so much.

“you tripped me just to win that last cake,” yeonjun deadpans, glaring at him while he is happily eating the pink dessert. it’s one of the enjoyments of the success, the fact that he is constantly one-upping his best friend who is also the number one supporter of the strawberry dessert community.

“remember when you locked me in the bathroom last time?”

yeonjun grumbles, stuffing more rice into his cheeks while beomgyu feeds himself more pieces of his sweets. “wanna come over tonight? i found another movie.”

“another b-grade horror movie? seriously. i even got a bad dream because of them!”

“if they could affect your subconscious that much, it means that they aren’t that b-grade after all!”

that’s his best friend and his unusual fascination towards ‘underrated’ movies, when there is a reason why those movies are rated so low. as someone who studies filmography, beomgyu is not sure how yeonjun can handle watching those abomination masquerading as movies.

“seriously though, i saw a demon in my dream. he—“ he stops mid-sentence as he looks up into someone else’s eyes that’s not yeonjun’s. they are blinking at him slowly, curious about what he’s about to say. he swallows back the embarrassing details of his dream, spreading his lips into a grin instead. “soobin hyung!”

“hi beomgyu, you were saying something about a demon?” soobin asks with a tilt of his head, showing his interest. that’s just choi soobin and his attentive self, always showing his interest towards the littlest things beomgyu could come up with.

that’s also the reason why he has been harbouring the fattest crush for the senior.

“just feeding yeonjun’s grotesque taste in topic!”

“hey!” the blonde tries to protest through the mouthful of his food.

“understandable,” soobin laughs. the sound of his laughter soothes his inside, filling him with cottony warmth to the point that he doesn’t feel like eating anymore.

today is a good day. it really is. until beomgyu’s eyes found the unmistakable sight of red hair across the cafeteria. he freezes in his seat, especially since his eyes are locked with the red head’s threatening ones. suddenly the warmth in his chest freezes over into a snowy land.

“beomgyu?” it’s yeonjun’s voice now, engaging him into whatever they’re talking about.

he’s not comprehending any words, frozen with fear as he sees the smirk spread across the demon’s face, and then he starts walking towards their table.

“i…” he inhales shakily. “guys, can you see that guy with that bright red hair? so weird, right? haha,” he points to the direction behind the two males.

soobin is the first one who turns his head to look at the direction, and then as they both found his gaze again, they just look purely confused. the guy is getting closer.

“dang. i must have missed it,” yeonjun says as he turns back on his seat. “would love to talk to someone who dyed their hair red so i can get some tips before i do it to my own hair.”

“hyung, your hair will fall off at this rate…”

they can’t see the redhead, just like the rest of his class earlier and his professor. but beomgyu is sure that he is not dreaming right now. the guy is really walking towards him, not breaking their eye contact and unbothered by the people brushing past him. beomgyu’s fingers shake a little as he gathers his bag.

he needs to get away from here.

“gyu? you’re leaving already?” yeonjun’s voice sounds like it’s said from a mile away, lost in the chatter from the table around them. the loudest sound that reached his ear is this unfamiliar voice ringing inside his head.

_don’t you dare._

“i forgot i have something to do before my next class!” he says with a fake cheerful tone, pushing the half-eaten portion of his precious strawberry roll-cake towards soobin who’s eyeing him curiously. “for you, hyung. have a nice day!”

“you never shared with me!”

he ignores yeonjun’s voice as he is already bolting away from the table. he needs to get away.

the demon shouldn’t be familiar with the map of his campus, so it gives beomgyu the idea to make an escape somewhere he rarely visits. after a long while of fast-walking through the corridor, he settles with the engineering building. a place so deserted because not many people are interested.

even the bathrooms are so clean because they are rarely used, beomgyu ponders as he gets distracted for a bit, looking at the interior of the pristine clean place. that’s his downfall, to be so easily distracted, that he almost jumps through the roof when he suddenly spots a certain guy glaring at him through the big mirror.

“how did you find me here?” he yells as he whips around, holding his bag out as a shield between them. “are you a stalker?”

“i’m a demon, idiot.”

“no way!”

“the name is taehyun, by the way.”

“why would a demon have a name?”

“excuse me?” a spark of irritation causes a black smoke to puff out of his frame, making beomgyu flinch as he presses his back further against the edge of the sink. “what do you think us demons are? we deserve a name too.”

now that he is fully awake, the demon looks more like a concrete being. the vivid crimson hair looks too bright, but otherwise, he looks _real_.

“o-okay… why are you here anyway? are you going to curse me?” he asks, voice meek, as he lifts his bag to cover half his face. he feels pathetic like this, getting all frightened over something coming straight out of a pop-culture fiction. but then again, it’s not everyday you are visited by someone who calls himself a demon.

“shouldn’t i be the one asking you? you summoned me fifty-seven times with the pentagrams!”

“p-pentagram?” he asks, eyes rounding up as he flinches in reaction to the taehyun guy suddenly lifting his hand to loosen his tie. and then he remembers the notebook. all his drawings. the circles with moons and stars he drew over and over again after seeing the similar pattern on a film. “the pentagram!”

“yeah, i haven’t been summoned in forever, so you’ve better have something good in store for…”

beomgyu is not listening anymore. he rummages through his bag for the notebook, sending the said bag and the rest of his belongings to the floor when he procured it. he flips through the book until he finds the pages he was doodling on earlier. the ones filled with red lines strewn across the pages until there’s no more space.

he can barely make out the circle or detail anymore, but he wastes no time trying to make sense of it.

“i’m sorry, it must be a mistake, let me just—“ he rips the pages into pieces, dropping them into the sink. as the water pours out from the tap, he can see the papers stick to the white porcelain, and then bleeds in red ink into the sinkhole.

smiling triumphantly to himself, he lifts his gaze to the mirror, expecting to see himself being left alone in the bathroom already since the spell must have been broken. he ripped apart and washed off the drawings after all, that’s how it works in the movie. get rid of the summoning circles!

instead, he is met with a pair of flashing yellow eyes glaring at him through the mirror, filling him with the same sense of dreads that makes him shrink.

“you. idiot.”

“what- why are you not gone yet, i—“ he sputters, turning around to find himself standing face to face with taehyun who has gotten way too close to him. his face is only an inch away, and he can see the depth of taehyun’s eyes staring at him in irritation.

“you. big. idiot.”

“stop speaking like that!”

“that’s not how it works!” taehyun yells back at him, making him squeeze his eyes shut at the surprise. when beomgyu opens his eyes again, he sees a more tired face instead of an angry one. the tie around the male’s neck has been loosened completely, hanging around his shoulder. “now you have to draw another sign for me so i can go back to my realm. that’s the only way i can go back.”

no way.

_no fucking way._

beomgyu bites his lip, looking down at the wet papers that have disintegrated into pulp in the sink, and then at his notebook where he can only see a trace of ripped papers and faint lines of drawing. the only sign that he’s been drawing on the book at all.

there are no more circles left to copy from. what did he even draw?

he just can’t bring himself to tell taehyun about it, not now that the demon looks like he is ready to rip him apart with his long black nails. but as he looks at the male in despair, he knows that taehyun just _knows_ what he’s thinking.

“you don’t know what you were drawing,” the demon says, as if the realization just comes upon him. his eyes grow darker as if it’s possible, giving beomgyu a glimpse of hell where he possibly came from.

he is so dead.

==

“what took you so long? it’s been hours and you haven’t found it yet?”

“i’m sorry!” beomgyu fakes a sniffle, burying his nose into another book as he scans through the pages.

he’s been terrorized enough over the night. taehyun told him to draw any kind of pentagram that he had in his head, but none of them appears to open whatever portal the demon crawled out from. he spent hours working on it, under the scrutiny of a very grumpy redhead who towered over his study desk. he could only sleep only as taehyun dissipated from his room, even then, his dreams were littered by the pictures of hell he saw from the guy’s eyes early in the day.

it was not even a good sleep, then he was woken up by the same demon who started scolding him for _sleeping_ _too long_.

that’s how he found himself in the library so early in the morning, sitting on the floor between the shelves, in the section that no one ever visited. nobody in the right mind would be so interested in the discourse about satanic rituals and supernatural history. not even yeonjun. it left beomgyu on his own, accompanied only by the books strewn around him on the floor and a ray of morning sunlight filtering through an opaque window next to him.

he would doze off right there, if only it was not for the pair of eyes watching his every moment.

“stop looking at me,” he finally snaps.

“where am i supposed to look then?” taehyun shoots back.

it’s beomgyu’s luck that no one else is able to catch a glimpse of a demon, or else _he_ would be the one getting mocked by the people around the campus. who on their right mind would walk around the campus with a male who has a striking red hair, wearing a neat black suit with, and long black nails neatly polished.

upon a quick glance, taehyun might pass as a cosplayer, or an idol who’s trying out a Halloween concept. none of them is favourable to beomgyu’s social reputation.

“just not me,” he huffs, peeking at the latter over the top of a satanic cult book he is holding. “you know, if you stare at someone for more than six minutes, you might end up falling in love with them. i don’t want to die yet.”

taehyun sneers. “demons don’t fall in love. they eat souls.”

that sends a chill down the human’s spines, making him shrink farther from the other’s reach. “just read something.”

“demons don’t read books either.”

“what do you demons do on your free time then?” he asks in exasperation, finally lowering the book as his brain can’t take any more english texts to comprehend. perhaps he could pass as a demon with how much he hates reading.

taehyun ponders for a bit before lifting his gaze to catch beomgyu’s. the human tries not to shrink away again, for the first time trying to see the latter as less than a dark creature since his eyes are not in their shade of yellow or hellish dark for once.

“we make deals with humans. granting wishes in return for something.”

“that sounds like a genie,” he shuts up at a pointed look shot at him.

“do genies take away people’s souls, too?”

“no…”

“thought so.”

the area is engulfed by silence. the only sound left is the flipping of book as beomgyu absently looks through it. it’s weirdly calming, almost lulling him into a fake sense of relaxation despite having a demon sitting across of him.

this reading session would have gone through the whole morning until his first class of the day if only it’s not for a sound of footsteps coming towards them. beomgyu sees taehyun’s alarmed eyes at first, before he looks up to see someone’s head poking over the bookshelf, looking at him curiously.

“oh, it’s just beomgyu hyung.”

beomgyu smiles at the sight of his favourite freshman. “hueningie! what brought you here?”

“shouldn’t that be my question? i didn’t expect to see you reading alone at this hour of the day.”

“what do you mean, i’m not—“ he turns his head to the spot where taehyun was sitting. the guy is not there anymore. but then it’s also dumb of him since hueningkai wouldn’t be able to see the demon anyway. “that’s right. i’m just doing some urgent research.”

that earns him a curious look from kai, as the tall male crouches down to shift through the books he left scattered on the floor. “a research about this topic, really?”

he laughs awkwardly, gathering the books out of the younger’s reach. “it’s yeonjun hyung’s birthday soon. i need to get him something.”

that sounds believable. he gives himself a pat on the back for coming up with such a clever excuse in just a few seconds notice. kai appears to believe it too, since he is silent now, just staring at him.

maybe not.

“hyung, you’re not in trouble, right?” he asks, making beomgyu blink up at him in confusion. “i came here because i sensed a bad aura. like something bad is about to happen.”

that makes him swallow a thick lump in his throat, reminded of the demon he summoned and the conversation they just had. “you’re scaring me, hueningie…”

“ah, i’m sorry,” he breaks into a laugh. the air around him turning lighter and colourful again. “just. tell me if anything is bothering you, okay? anything caused by corporate or incorporate beings.”

“what do you mean incorporate…”

“ghosts, demon?”

that makes him choke. “seriously?”

“it’s the vibe that i got! don’t worry, hyung. they usually don’t come to harm unless someone made a deal with them to harm you. they feed on us in that way,” kai says, smiling in reassurance after seeing the horror in his face. “but whatever you do, don’t give in to the temptation of making a deal with such creature. they can’t be trusted.”

“who would even want to do that?” he exhales a muffled shriek.

kai shushes him abruptly, but he looks amused now. “just in case. isn’t it such a wonderful concept, to have your wish granted so easily?”

kai leaves just like that, leaving behind the foreboding air from his words. he heard things about the guy before, about how he can see supernatural beings and how he is always talking to something people can’t see. he brushed it off, thinking that the rumour was made up by the classmates who didn’t like the boy. but seeing how taehyun fled just at the presence of the boy, maybe it’s worth a consideration.

what kai didn’t know is that his warning had a reverse effect on someone like beomgyu.

no matter what, you can’t tell him what _not_ to do.

“okay, i have a proposition!”

that’s the first thing beomgyu says the moment taehyun appears before him again. this time, he doesn’t let the fear get the best of him. he read a few articles about overcoming fears, and one of them said that he should assert his dominance towards the object, making sure that he has the upper hand.

so he is doing just that.

taehyun looks taken aback by his exclaim, but he keeps his face stoic. “do you think you’re in the place to make such kind of thing?”

“well i am a human, so basically i’m your customer, right?”

“like you can pay me,” taehyun scoffs.

“considering i’m the only one who can see you, i think your return to your realm depends on me, mr. demon,” he says, smiling smugly as he can see the amusement melt off taehyun’s face. “i promise, i will draw the pentagram for you. but you have to give me something else in return.”

“what. the. fuck.”

“i’m making a deal here! are you supposed to curse your customer? hey!” beomgyu steps back, stumbling back onto his bed when taehyun lifts his hand. he can feel the horror filling him seeing the sharp claws again, knowing that taehyun has the power to just end his life anytime he wishes. but he’d like to think that he could have the upper hand for once. “y-you can’t kill me! i’m the only one who can send you back to hell!”

he is really pushing his luck at this point. but the goddess of luck still stays on his side, after all, seeing how the flickering rage dies down in taehyun’s eyes. he was just winging it, but apparently he made some points that were persuasive enough for the demon.

taehyun still looks like he wanted to claw his face, but he settles down to sit on his chair, looking more human that he has ever.

“okay. name your price. you can’t go overboard with it, like shedding blood? that costs at least some of yours too. so if you want me to kill someone for you, i might have to take your soul along when i leave.”

“no! who do you think i am? jeez,” beomgyu gets up from his embarrassing posture, scooting to sit on the edge of his bed so he can face the other properly. “okay, first. i want you to dress up like a human. if you can change your clothes.”

“that’s it?”

“that’s the _first_ one! and then clip your nails.”

a knife materializes on top of the table, and beomgyu could sense that it doesn’t have anything to do with nail clipping. not to mention that taehyun’s fiery glare is still set on him.

“okay, okay, not that one!” beomgyu says quickly, exhaling a breath of relief when the knife dissipates into a thin air. “i do have another wish though. the most important one.”

==

“he’s totally out of your league.”

“hey! you don’t even know him!”

“i know just by looking at him. don’t touch me, you’re getting too comfortable, human!”

if someone told beomgyu last week that he would be here today, hiding near the entrance of the campus lobby while bickering with a demon, he would call that person crazy. but here he really is, with the demon who looks more humane every minute he spends in the human realm. especially now that he has changed his clothes into something less of a suit and more of something coming from beomgyu’s wardrobe.

and if someone told him that he would make a deal with a demon, too, he would probably curse the person.

except, he does make the deal. a stupid one, even for him.

“you could have made a materialistic deal, make yourself rich or something, but you just want me to score you a date with this senior you’re crushing on,” taehyun deadpans, repeating the same thing for the third time already since beomgyu told him last night. “do you take me as a joke?”

“listen. it’s been a whole year and i haven’t made a progress, so let’s see how easy it’d be for you!”

“do you think i could just come up here and ask him? you do it!”

“what is the use of making a deal with you then? stupid demon.”

he might have gone overboard there, as he could see fire sparks in taehyun’s eyes. for some reasons, he had forgotten his initial fear towards the guy, until he reminds him that he’s still powerful enough to take his life without even touching him. he won’t risk it, though.

so before taehyun can say anything, he bolts away from where they’re hiding, running straight into the said crush. he didn’t even realize the direction, but he knows what’s happening when he feels a pair of cold hands on his shoulders, obviously steering him towards the guy.

soobin looks surprised at first, but he breaks into a smile the next second. “morning, gyu. are you here to help?”

his heart skips a beat at the usage of nickname, but he gathers himself together, eyeing the demon who stands a good distance away from them and urging him with his eyes. he really doesn’t want anything to do with student council activities, but if it means spending some time with choi soobin…

“of course! you guys look super busy. what are you doing again?”

soon enough, he’s occupied with organizing the lobby into a site for a mini book fair. it’s not that bad, especially considering the fact that he is working with the elder. he just wishes that taehyun would disintegrate into the air instead of being nosy, following him around and bugging him to ask soobin out for a date.

if it was so easy, he would have boyfriended the poor guy already.

“alright, i swear to god!” he snaps at some point, as taehyun started to blow cold air onto his nape and bothering him while he is crafting some colourful lettering. it ends up gaining attention from people around him instead, including soobin, who is looking at him while blinking in confusion. “sorry, i was just—“

“you wanted to do this with me? thank you! no one else is brave enough but of course choi beomgyu of gryffindor would, right?”

that’s how he ends up sitting on top of soobin’s shoulders while slowly being lifted up. he is instructed to stick some decorations higher on the walls, and no one else trusted soobin enough to lift them up like this. not even beomgyu was convinced he wouldn’t be dropped and pass out from concussion, but since he’s already trapped in this situation, he can only hold onto soobin’s brownish-lilac locks for balance.

“please… don’t drop me,” he says through gritted teeth as he carefully sticks the decoration with shaky hands. from the corner of his eyes, he can see a certain demon standing a safe distance away from them. a smirk playing on his lips.

curse him. he can’t even wish that taehyun goes to hell because the guy came from there.

it gets a little easier after spending some time up there, and by the time he’s done, he’s not that tensed anymore. if anything, perhaps it comes from the way his heart thump from having soobin look up at him, smiling so brightly.

“it’s not that bad, right?” soobin asks.

“yeah…”

“ask him!” taehyun’s voice rings from across the room. no one else can hear him, but it makes beomgyu’s lips twitch in irritation. how dare that demon with bad taste of hair dye break his moment of blossoming college romance like this?

“soobin hyung, wanna grab something to eat later? the ice cream place is just reopening…”

the elder’s eyes sparkle at the mention of ice cream. he keeps the smile on his face even as he is slowly lowering himself down so beomgyu can climb down, and even as his hair is being tugged again, only once they are face to face again that he gives his answer.

“sure! let’s go together with the rest of the team later!” he says happily, ruffling beomgyu’s hair before he goes to join the others.

beomgyu keeps the smile on his face for a few more seconds, dropping it with a sigh when he turns around on his heels. he is not jumping anymore despite his heart giving a jolt at the sight of taehyun materializing in front of him. no matter how many times this happened already, he can never get used to having taehyun around him.

“now you see why i said it’s difficult?” he deadpans.

he doesn’t know which one is worse between seeing the anger or amusement in taehyun’s eyes, but the demon seems to be enjoying this, so it works well to keep him entertained while beomgyu is still figuring out the pentagram pattern.

“you’re an idiot but that guy is a whole new level of dense. suitable for you.”

he is starting to get used to this, at least.

after this, taehyun is occupied with the little mission of digging up information for beomgyu, which also gives the human more sense of normality back into his life. no more redhead distracting him by popping up suddenly or a threat to his life whenever he failed to draw the right pentagram.

it’s almost as if he is back into his life of boring business theories and statistics, but at the end of the day, he will always have a certain demon in his room, bothering him whenever he is trying to work on his assignment.

“you’re sick for this, choi beomgyu. you never told me that choi soobin is a church boy.”

that makes him tip his head back in laughter, breaking his focus from the abundance of texts displayed on his laptop screen. “oh god. i wish i was there to see… did you get burned? i’ve always wanted to see the effect of prayers on demons!”

to which, he got smacked on the back of his head by an invisible hand. still, he’s too amused to feel the pain, falling off his chair from laughter while taehyun is glowering on his bed.

sometimes, taehyun is the one who’s more excited about the mission than beomgyu himself. he even took notes, flipping through the pages to show beomgyu in order to keep him from dozing off in class.

“i interviewed some of his classmates.”

“what the heck, you can make them see you?” he whispers the question under his breath, throwing an incredulous look at the demon who’s smiling smugly, as if he just accomplished something big. “and you made people think i’m crazy for talking to myself.”

“in my defense, people already think you’re crazy enough without my help.”

it’s not a wise decision to reach out for a demon’s hair and try to yank it, and it’s definitely not one when he’s doing it inside the class where nobody else can see the said demon. other than a slap of his wrist by taehyun, he received a questioning glare from the professor who is weirded out by his behaviour, told to stay behind after class for some explanation.

obviously, he can’t possibly explain that it’s an invisible and annoying demon who’s distracting him during class.

“i started pursuing my passion in dance and my body just moves on its own. i’m sorry for my disrespectful action inside the class today, ma’am. it won’t happen again in the future,” his apology pours out from his lips in a beautifully crafted lie. he’s an expert in this, making excuses to convince the professors to accept his late submission or grant him extra credits.

it just feels more embarrassing when he could hear a quiet laughter from behind him. not to mention that it sounds so human. like he could turn around just to see taehyun, his classmate, instead of a demon he accidentally summoned.

some other times, taehyun can be so immersed in his planning that he doesn’t register what’s happening around him. only this one time beomgyu finally takes his chance, crawling towards the guy as he is zoning out in thought, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration and eyes glazed over.

beomgyu sits down on the floor right across of him, biting his lip to stifle his laughter as he starts clipping the sharp tips of taehyun’s black nails. upon a closer look, they are way scarier than he thought. there is no trace of poorly applied black nail polish like the one he sees on some edgy guys in the campus. taehyun’s nails are naturally black.

only at times like this does he get reminded that taehyun is in fact, a dangerous demon who can devour his soul anytime he wishes.

“what do you think you are doing?”

that snaps him out of his little moment of deep thought. beomgyu slowly lifts his gaze to meet taehyun’s face, but his fingers still move on their own accord, putting pressure on the clipping tool. as another click sounds, followed by the sound of a piece of nail hitting the floor, he is thrown onto the floor so quickly that he had a whiplash. an arm around his neck in a loose choke hold.

“i’m sorry, i’m sorry!” he yells, tapping onto taehyun’s arm. “i was bored!”

“you want me to claw out your eyes? it could be a price for taking the tips of my nails away,” taehyun threatens in his sweet voice, making him scream some more.

only later on as he is buried under his cover, with a certain demon sitting in the corner of his bedroom (for some reason taehyun doesn’t poof into the thin air lately), he realizes that his scream was less of a scared one and more of a happy one.

even with three stinging lines of claw mark drawn on his arm.

==

the legendary day comes after another day of research report proudly presented by taehyun.

“your crush went out with someone today.”

it also comes with a heartbreak, apparently. beomgyu frowns as he turns his gaze towards the latter, torn between listening to yeonjun talking about his birthday party or taehyun who is sitting next to him. for some reasons, the demon has this liking to distract him when he’s talking to someone else.

he has the audacity to ruin his special lunch of glass noodles too.

“but i finally found out the only way you can get him to agree to go out with you!” he says triumphantly. “you have to tell him that you have something important to tell.”

“doesn’t sound so romantic…”

“what? of course. please don’t play any mellow songs, choi beomgyu. i’m trusting you to pick the songs because i knew you have a good music taste!” yeonjun answers instead. he already lost track of the conversation, but it must be about the playlist. good thing he had it ready since the first time this hyung mentioned it.

“you still gotta try this method,” taehyun’s voice suddenly grows closer to his ear, dripping with threats. funnily enough, that’s not what made him tensed up. “if you don’t, i’m going to get into his head and fuck it up just to make your wish come true.”

“no…” he says through his gritted teeth, squeezing his eyes shut.

“i’ve already wasted so much time here, choi beomgyu. don’t make me regret sealing the deal with you.”

it must be coming from the shadow that starts growing from around taehyun’s from. beomgyu hasn’t seen it ever since their last debacle in the bathroom on the first day, but now he can feel all kinds of negative feelings shot through his system; anger, sadness, despair. they’re all mixing with his own, as if it’s his doing.

“gyu? are you okay?” even yeonjun’s voice can’t penetrate through the shadow.

he feels so small, enveloped by the darkness. and he feels like he is going to burst into tears anytime soon for no reasons. has he made the wrong decision to keep a demon around? no matter how harmless he looks right now, he is still an evil creature who can ruin his life.

“beomgyu hyung.”

as the voice calls out to him, suddenly he can breathe again. he blinks a few times, clearing his head. his eyes found taehyun first, but the guy is not looking at him anymore. even hueningkai who just arrived at the table is not looking at him. he is looking straight into taehyun’s eyes.

the demon scoffs, and then dissipates into the air. that’s when beomgyu slumps forward, as if freed by a few kilos of burden on his shoulders.

“beomgyu hyung, can i talk to you?”

“i can see the demon, you know,” kai says once they are alone. “do you need help getting rid of him? he is feeding from your emotions.”

“he, what—“ he gapes, blinking a few times.

“he is a demon, so he needs to feed one way or another. one of the common methods is eating up negative emotions felt by the human. those demons are like parasites.”

“if they only take the negative emotions then… how is it bad? wouldn’t it be nice for my mental health?”

kai throws him an incredulous look. “seriously? what if the only reason you are not scared of him is because he’s eating away your fear? the moment you lower your defense, he will have a total control of you, hyung.”

beomgyu looks down on his feet, taking his time proceeding the information. he has never felt that way around taehyun before, even as they have been on this for weeks. now he wonders if he has really made the guy overstay his welcome, and that taehyun would eventually snap if he’s kept for a little longer.

has he been playing this game a little too recklessly?

“thank you for worrying about me, hueningie,” he says, putting on his brightest smile. “but i got this, okay? he is my demon, and i’m going to take care of him!”

“did you just… do you know how dangerous he might be for you?” he asks hushedly, as if anyone else could hear them in this deserted corridor.

“no, but i just need to do this one thing, and then our deal is finished! so it should be anytime soon.”

kai gives him a look of disapproval, but he sighs in defeat soon after. his face more empathetic now. “you really shouldn’t trust a demon, beomgyu hyung. i told you last time.”

“no—“

“they look like a human, right? wait until they show their true colour and start hurting people. it’s bound to happen.”

==

“so, did you ask him?”

beomgyu jumps a little where he is sitting on the bench, almost dropping his textbook when he spots taehyun crouching down right in front of him, peering down at him from under his book. the demon sure has taken a liking to showing up unannounced, and in the most bizarre way, just because he’s entertained by beomgyu’s reactions when he’s scared.

just this time, it might have been influenced by kai’s words as well.

no matter how he looks at taehyun right now, he looks harmless. clad in a pastel green shirt and a knitted vest over it. a pair of glasses perched on his nose. he looks no more than a college student, just like any other people passing him soundlessly at this college park.

“i did! he surprisingly said yes… just for shaved ice though,” beomgyu says, erasing the frown on his face soon as he nods firmly. “i’ll tell him how i feel then.”

as he meets taehyun’s gaze again, he is faced by conflicting swirls of emotions inside the usually impassive eyes. for a moment, he thought that taehyun is going to get annoyed again, just like how he always drops some comments about how mundane it is every time beomgyu complains about his classes or friend problems.

then it’s suddenly gone, as if a tap of water being shut. taehyun stands up. “there. you scored your date. can i go home now?”

beomgyu blinks. “what, home?”

“that’s the deal, remember? i help you score a date with the dense senior and you draw me the pentagram so i can go back home.”

that deal.

beomgyu bites his lip, sending enough hint for the other to know what crossed his mind. instantly, the fire flares again inside taehyun’s eyes, making the human squeak and hide himself behind his textbook. a thousand pages are better than nothing to block from from a possible laser shooting out from the devil spawn.

“you haven’t found the drawing yet?” his voice blares throughout the park, and beomgyu is mildly thankful that he’s the only one who can see and hear the guy.

“i’m sorry! it’s not easy, okay? but i’m close. i promise you i’ll be done with it soon—“ he inches backwards when the demon towers over him, probably just for intimidation value, yet still makes his skin prickle from fear.

it’s been a while since he felt any kind of fear around the guy. he mildly wonders if it has something to do with the thing kai warned him about. but he could feel the emotion pulses away from him, and not abruptly. it just disappears when taehyun’s eyes soften, as the demon exhales in defeat.

“after your date. that’s the deadline.”

he perks up at once, nodding quickly. “i’ll make sure to have it ready by tomorrow night!”

==

yeonjun’s birthday party is held in a bar near the campus.

since the guy is pretty social with basically everyone who talked to him, beomgyu can see a lot of faces he didn’t recognize as he saunters his way through the dimly lit area packed with people. he only finds yeonjun because of the bright colour of his hair.

“bg! thanks for the playlist, by the way. i absolutely love it!” the blonde beams as soon as he spots him, pulling him into a hug that feels more of a chest smashing instead of a proper embrace. “who’s the guy?” he asks once he pulls away, nodding to the direction of the red head who’s standing soundlessly a step behind him.

beomgyu perks up at that. so it’s really working. earlier today he had asked taehyun to join him for the party in order to ‘have fun for the last time before going back to hell’, but he didn’t expect the demon to actually comply, and make himself visible to other people like he requested.

“his name is taehyun!” he says.

“happy birthday,” taehyun deadpans. beomgyu almost explodes on where he is standing, just because he can feel the pulsing of energy from the guy, the one he associated with annoyance since he always feels it moments before the guy yells at him. “nice party. thanks for the drink.” oh god, he is so awkward.

“no worries! beomgyu’s friends are my friends too. would love to see you around!”

yeonjun leaves to attend to the other guests afterwards, and taehyun appears to be regretting every life decision he made up to this point of his life the moment beomgyu has his eyes on him.

“you really did it. everyone can see you now!”

“it’s not a big deal…”

“it is! for a long time, only i can see you and talk to you, now i won’t have to look like a weirdo whenever i talk to you!”

“you’re still a weirdo.”

taehyun escapes his whining by situating himself at the bar. they end up spending the rest of time in there, sitting and trying out some drinks which they shared between them. taehyun claimed that he had tried human alcohol, but chokes at the first sip of vodka, claiming that it tastes like a drink that comes straight from the pit of hell.

they ended up sharing a glass of soju martini because that’s all taehyun could stan, being a surprisingly sweet tooth for someone who’s supposed to _look_ as intimidating as a demon. at some points, a few friends come say hi to beomgyu and engaged him in a conversation, and then acknowledged taehyun’s presence next to him.

beomgyu doesn’t know why it makes him so happy.

perhaps it’s because the demon is leaving a mark here. on people’s memories, instead of just beomgyu’s. so when he has to leave later, beomgyu can assure himself that it’s not just a figment of his imagination. that taehyun really did exist and they were friends.

at least for beomgyu, they are.

“you look like you’d fit in just well if you were to live in the human realm forever,” beomgyu says out of the blue, at first earning a confused look from the latter before it turns into a suspicious one.

“are you saying this because you gave up hope in sending me home?”

“no! i’m just stating my observation, okay?” he extends his hand to cover the glare taehyun is sending towards him. “have you ever thought about doing that? just for a bit. it must be boring just to be stuck in… wherever you came from. hell?”

“you don’t even know how hell looks. humans just like to assume,” taehyun scoffs, lowering beomgyu’s hand from his face, but not letting go of his hold on it. “it’s nothing like pictured in religious stories or movies. i think it’s a decent place for a living. like you people, i have a life there too.”

beomgyu stays quiet at that, brows furrowed. what is he expecting, really? for his days with taehyun to remain stagnant and there is no reason for the redhead to go back to his world? he wasn’t even supposed to be here, if only it’s not for the accidental drawings. but it also makes him feel a little empty, knowing that there will be no way to contact the demon again after he’s leaving.

what are the odds of taehyun answering the summoning call from the human he wanted to leave the most?

“hey, what time are you meeting your senior crush?” taehyun asks suddenly.

that makes him jerk up on his seat, quickly fishing his phone out from his pocket to check the time. “i still have ten minutes to get there. it’s nearby!”

as he slides off the stool, taehyun swivels around on his seat to look at him. “should i come with you?”

“nope! i’m not bringing you along to my date,” beomgyu rolls his eyes, pushing on taehyun’s chest when the guy seems like he’s about to hop off. “meet me back at home by midnight, okay? i should be done by then. enjoy the party!”

he leaves on that note, slipping through the gaps between people dancing on the floor. as he lifts his hand, he could still feel the remaining warmth from touching taehyun’s chest. he also remembers the lack of heartbeat against his hand.

that alone should alert him enough of how inhumane taehyun is, and that he should be scared of the guy instead of hoping to spend more time with him.

the next time beomgyu spots the familiar flash of red hair that has become a fixture on his days, it’s midnight. and no, it’s not at his house like it was supposed to be.

he’s sitting alone at a table in this 24hour bingsu place, stirring at the melted ice on his plate. he tries not to look up and meet his gaze, just poking on the pieces of strawberries that formerly decorated the bowl of strawberry cheesecake bingsu. he was about to give his strawberries to soobin, too. how pathetic.

“it didn’t go well?” taehyun asks as he seats himself next to him, sounding like he actually cared.

maybe it’s just beomgyu and his need to be comforted. it leads him to believe that the demon has a capability to be worried about him.

“i wish it didn’t,” he exhales a laugh, stabbing at the strawberry. “i got stood up.”

“oh.”

“pathetic, right? i was actually looking forward to it, too…”

“you can ask him out again next time,” taehyun says. beomgyu takes it as his attempt to comfort the human; it makes him smile. warmth filling his chest for the first time in the three hours of his waiting. “i’ll help you again.”

now, he’s even being nice. beomgyu should applaud himself for looking sad enough to move the icy heart of a supposedly evil creature.

“it’s okay, taehyun-ah. you have done plenty. i promised you that i would draw you the pentagram, right? let me just…” he trails off when he lifts his gaze to meet the latter’s, frozen still on his seat when he spots the familiar darkness in the pair of eyes. it’s anger. taehyun is actually angry for him. “hey… i-it’s okay, really. taehyun? i will draw it right now!”

“the deal is not done yet. i’ll make sure you go on that date.”

“taehyun, just drop it— _taehyun_!” he yells, only to be met by the thin air as taehyun dissipates into the air, leaving an empty seat next to him. his yelling brought attention of the owner who eyes him weirdly. he has no explanation for that, nor did he care. it’s the least of his worry.

he just needs to wait until the demon shows up again to put some senses into his head. that it’s okay to break the silly deal because he scored the date in the first place, it’s just that soobin let him down, and he just had to live with the fact that he had been rejected indirectly.

now he just has to find a way to make taehyun understand it.

==

beomgyu didn’t get to do it.

right when he opens his eyes the next morning, he ushers himself to yeonjun’s place. panic burning in his system after reading the texts sent by the friend. animal attack? that can’t be. not in the middle of the city, and randomly at night.

“seriously, gyu. it’s nothing much,” yeonjun says when he pressed the matter again, still worried seeing the bandages scattered on the hyung’s body. it ranges from his arm, to his thigh, and even his cheek. the one on his cheek hurts whenever he smiles, beomgyu could tell. yet yeonjun keeps making jokes and tries to reassure him.

“but animal, really? are you sure you didn’t get robbed?” he asks again.

“it happened when i went out to get some air last night, so i really didn’t have anything valuable on me,” he says, just before his eyes lit up for a split second as he brings his phone out. “i have a picture of the one from my cheek! it looks pretty bad, but really, it doesn’t hurt much.”

beomgyu’s heart almost drops when he sees the picture. three long gashes, looking thinly engraved along the skin, but enough to draw blood. it’s way too familiar to him, seeing how he sulked for a few hours when he had them on his own skin.

the lines of clawing that came from a familiar set of sharp, black nails.

“hyung… seriously, what did you see before you pass out?” he asks, now with a hint of fear dripping from his voice. he should have listened to kai. if anything happens to the rest of his friends, it would be on him. “hyung!”

“what’s wrong with you?”

“what’s wrong with _you_?”

that’s also the question he spits out the first second he spots taehyun again. the male is casually occupying the seat behind his study desk when he hurries into his room, swivelling around like he did nothing wrong. beomgyu forgot all about his fear when he storms inside and pulls the demon up by the front of his shirt.

“what the hell?” taehyun frowns at him, but making no move to get away.

“why did you do that to yeonjun? you attacked my friend… oh my god. is it a kind of additional payment? i told you i don’t want it anymore! why didn’t you come from me instead?” he yells, not caring about being heard by the rest of the house. his hands are shaking when he realized it, and he quickly rips himself away from the latter, taking a few steps back to keep a good distance away.

a danger. that’s what taehyun is.

instead of being engulfed by anger, taehyun is standing there calmly. no trace of fire in his eyes. “you made a deal with a demon, beomgyu. you’re not the one who calls the shot.”

beomgyu is the one who’s shaking with anger now, tears prickling in his eyes. with how his body is bombarded by all kinds of emotions, he can’t differentiate which is which anymore. is it fear that he is feeling? or disappointment because he has judged the demon blindly, stupidly?

he actually believed that taehyun is one of the nice demons, even as hueningkai warned him about it. now yeonjun is hurt. and it’s because of him keeping a demon among them.

“you’re a fucking demon. i shouldn’t have trusted you since the beginning,” beomgyu spits, pushing taehyun aside before he rummages through his drawer for a paper, only to scream in frustration when he can’t find one.

with his hand still shaking from anger, he picks up a red marker instead, drawing a big circle of pentagram on the wall of his bedroom right in front of the demon himself. it’s the intricate circles he drew that day in his classroom, memorized by his muscles from the countless of repeated gesture.

if he wasn’t being such a fool who is intrigued by the presence of a demon in his life, yeonjun wouldn’t get hurt.

when he turns around, he half-expected taehyun to disappear already, since the portal is already opened wide for him. but he is still standing frozen there, eyes following beomgyu’s every movement. the human can’t help but to laugh at that. the sound derisive, strange to his ears.

“you know what? i already had this pentagram since long ago but i didn’t want you to go because i actually liked having you around,” he says. the truth spilling off his lips easier than he expected from the many practices he has had before last night. “but i guess im an idiot. you’re just a cruel demon and you hurt my friend.”

“that’s your wish, choi beomgyu. you wanted to go out with soobin.”

“what does it have anything to do with yeonjun hyung?” he yells, gripping the marker so hard in his fingers it might as well snap into two by the end of this discourse.

“they are dating behind your back. that’s the only reason soobin has been letting you down gently. i don’t know if you’re just playing dumb or too blind to see.”

was he playing dumb? beomgyu is standing stunned there, trying to recall his feelings about the two hyungs he’s close with. sure, he has sensed that they might be closer than he thought, and yeonjun sometimes slipped about hanging out with soobin, only to shut his mouth and smiling apologetically at him. he knows that beomgyu has a crush on soobin after all.

but has he always known that? even before he asked taehyun for help?

did he ever think about the consequences?

“do you think you’re a good friend? you know what i’m capable of doing and you want to get rid of your best friend. think about it.”

there is no way he could have that kind of thoughts about the two hyungs who cared about him the most. but he can’t deny that there were some occasions where he got jealous seeing the two. those times he wanted to join in on their inside jokes.

it stings. the possibility that he is the one making it happen.

after all, taehyun can tap into his darkest emotion. his actual desire that’s not just as innocent as wanting to ‘score a date with his crush’. what if beomgyu has always been this cruel person, and taehyun is just helping him see it?

“go away! go back to hell! i don’t want to ever see you anymore!” he finally snaps, eyes blurring with angry tears as he screams at the demon.

he backs away when the redhead inches closer to him, knocking his breath off his lungs when his face got too close. taehyun scoffs as the anger in his face is momentarily replaced by fear, and then he feels a pair of lips pressed on top of his own.

taehyun is kissing him, yet he can’t even focus on the softness of taehyun’s lips against his own, or the nice feeling it brings. he can only feel the sickening sensation as he is drained off his anger, leaving his chest as this void space.

it’s a depressing feeling, to be hollowed off his emotions. he can feel the trace of tears on his cheeks, rolling down to where their lips are still locked in the kiss. but he doesn’t even know why he is crying anymore.

when taehyun pulls away, he can only stare at the demon silently. dumbfounded.

“your anger is the tastiest. i deserve this much for putting up with your annoying ass for this long.”

and then the demon disintegrates into the air, taking away the pentagram with him and leaving the mint green wall of his bedroom blank again. the only sign of anything ever drawn on it is the broken marker in beomgyu’s hand.

it clatters on the floor just as beomgyu collapses, his face void of any emotion, as he stares blankly onto the wall.

he’s not even allowed to feel anything about taehyun leaving him.

demons are so cruel.

==

things are back into their standard, mundane way.

just last week, he attended this business and management class with a certain red haired male taking the empty seat next to his, chipping in snarky remarks for every boring details the professor added into her basic looking power point slides. he remembers the suffocation from having to stifle his laugh. remembers the smug smile on taehyun’s face as if he felt a sense of accomplishment from making beomgyu laugh.

and then he remembers the having the cold pair of lips on top of him the night he banished the demon for good. it’s sickening, how he only remembers the feeling of his heart skipping a beat at the realization that taehyun just _kissed_ him. he didn’t feel any repulsion from being kissed by a demon. on top of that, a demon who also hurt his best friend the night prior.

all his memories about taehyun are positive ones that are coaxing smiles from his lips. in which he slaps himself for each time.

it’s not taehyun’s claws that are dangerous. it’s taehyun’s ability to manipulate his feelings, only leaving him with ones that make him miss the presence of the demon, when his brain knows that he should be hating the guy.

the only negative feeling that lingers is the ache in his chest whenever he sees yeonjun or soobin. they don’t even know what’s going on for him now, still trying so hard to preserve the ignorance beomgyu had about them.

it’s more striking now that someone else voiced it out to him. the way those two moved away from each other when spotting him at the cafeteria. the abruptly dropped hands when they met at the corridor. the halted conversations. beomgyu wondered how he didn’t acknowledge it sooner.

“hyung, i know that you’re dating soobin hyung,” he finally decided to speak up one day as he got some alone time hanging out with yeonjun.

the initial response is a dragged silence, before the poor hyung starts choking on his corndog. he shouldn’t have dropped the bomb when yeonjun has his cheeks stuffed full with food. but it’d mean lost opportunities since he always has food in his mouth. at least it gives him more chance to talk more.

“it’s getting a little obvious, and trust me, i’m not upset about it. in case you’re doing it for my sake. i’m more upset that you have to hide it,” he keeps going, even as yeonjun is sitting there teary eyed from his fit of coughing. “i love you more than i’ve ever loved any of my crushes. so i’m just glad you’re happy.”

the coughing fit has long passed, so it can’t be a follow up reason for the tears that are still shining in yeonjun’s eyes. the male sniffles before he gathers beomgyu into his arms, earning a disgruntled complain as the younger is ready to dig a hole and hide from saying that kind of sappy stuff.

“we’re hiding it partly because soobin’s family won’t approve of it, but also because i knew of your massive crush on him and… yeah. it just slipped my mind to tell you.”

“it’s not that massive! and i don’t have a crush on him anymore, i think,” he mumbles the last part.

“really? what changed?” yeonjun arches a brow, curious.

a flash of red starts filling beomgyu’s head for a split second before he shakes his head rapidly to get rid of it. he opts to look closely at yeonjun’s face that’s just inches away from his own with how the hyung is keeping him close, watching the faint lines of claw marks that are slowly fading from yeonjun’s cheeks.

instead of answering the question, he brings his hand up to trace his fingers along the marks instead.

“did it hurt badly?” he asks.

yeonjun blinks at him before it dawns on him, as if he had completely forgotten about the attack. “not much, actually. now that i think about it. it might just be a raccoon?”

the wound does in fact, seems to be shallow. it’s not in line with taehyun’s claim that he had to get rid of yeonjun in order to help beomgyu. what was his purpose of doing this? as a demon who would do anything to complete the deal with his human, he shouldn’t be having that kind of compassion towards a human he doesn’t even know.

all these questions lead beomgyu into talking to the only person who is aware of it.

he finds hueningkai at the library, ignoring his whispered complaints about having to work as he drags the freshman into the secluded corner of the place. of course it just had to be the shelves with satanic cult books. the place he spent hours ‘hanging out’ with the demon who pressures him to find a way to return him back home.

after he explains the problem (quite frantically; kai has to make him sit down and rub his back so he can articulate his questions), kai sits there on the floor with a thoughtful look in his eyes. his fingers coming up to rub his chin.

“maybe that’s because he’s not supposed to attack humans?” he offers at the end, snorting at the way beomgyu is looking at him in confusion. “taehyun’s one of those petty demons. the lowest kind! he’s not like those big, mean demons who devour souls and drink blood. nobody even summons his kind to begin with.”

“i did,” he deadpans.

“accidentally.”

that makes beomgyu’s confusion grow. he never told kai the details about his idiocy in the statistic classroom, drawing a bunch of pentagrams just to accidentally summon an apparently petty demon.

“i talked to the demon. taehyun, right?” kai finally explains, continuing before beomgyu could sputter out questions. “i was worried about you, so i went to question his motives. it turned out that he’s just one of those powerless demons. that’s why i didn’t bother you about it again.”

“but… i don’t get it. we made a deal and everything…”

“hyung, i don’t know what kind of deal you made with him, but i’m not seeing you slowly succumbing into madness or ending up in death. what kind of demon made a deal that doesn’t benefit them much?”

the gears in beomgyu’s head start turning again. he hates it, the way he starts excusing taehyun’s behaviour, giving himself a space to doubt that taehyun was as mean as he thought. so he slaps his own cheek again. the sound ripping through the silence of the area and making kai jumps on his seat, staring at him with a pair of big, surprised eyes.

think rationally. that’s not the only thing taehyun is guilty of.

“okay, but the demon still fed on my feelings,” he nods decisively. “you were right about them being a danger. when he sucked out the emotions out of me that night, i instantly forgot all the bad things about him. all the negative things i felt about him. isn’t that more dangerous? if he shows up again, i might just…”

he trails off when he spots kai’s expression, looking more confounded and conflicted the more he listens to beomgyu.

“that’s not how it works either. they fed on feelings when you are feeling them. they can’t just pick them up from memories.”

“what?” beomgyu frowns.

“what?”

“so you’re saying that i’ve never had a negative feeling about the demon in the first place?”

“isn’t it a little obvious, hyung?”

==

ever since he talked about kai about the demon, he just has more questions to ask instead of a closure he wished for. was he on the wrong for getting mad at taehyun? what was taehyun thinking when he attacked yeonjun? was taehyun really just doing his part of the deal by doing that? beomgyu is not the best person when it comes to deducting, so he does what he does the best.

he picks up his pencil, drawing a familiar pentagram circle on a corner of his textbook.

the professor explanation is dulled into a white noise in the background. as he finishes drawing the complete circle, perfect with each detail and strokes, he stares intently at the drawing, wishing that there would be a sign. any kind of sign. that he is doing this just as well as he did the first time.

that taehyun is receiving his message; knows that the portal is open and there is someone who desperately wants to see him.

he sits there and chews his lips, not tearing his gaze away from the circle as if it would help that way. he sits there even as the class has ended and everyone else has left the room. he sits there through another lesson that he didn’t even sign up for.

by the end of the day, when a janitor comes to lock up the room, he finally gives up and closes the book. metallic taste on his lower lip and numbness on his legs as he drags them to walk.

what is he thinking?

there is no way taehyun would show up just to entertain a mere human. he is just a mortal. a speck of dust in his eternal life in hell.

beomgyu just wishes that it wouldn’t hurt this much.

==

the drawing of the pentagram is something recurrent for him now, that even the people around him start noticing. every hope he puts into the circle comes with despair as taehyun is still nowhere to see. the only one who is happy about his sudden fascination is none other than choi yeonjun, who dragged him to watch more satanic cult movies.

the portrayal of the devils and demons in the movies just made beomgyu sick.

another one who noticed it is soobin, but he is mainly concerned.

beomgyu’s mind comes up with a total impulsive idea of asking soobin to bring him to his church, wondering if he could get rid of the ‘curse’ he’s gotten from the demon. maybe he can’t stop thinking about taehyun because he is cursed by something from hell.

it ends up being a more devastating experience as he ends up recalling the way taehyun complained about soobin being a church boy for exactly an hour. it was the most adorable memory he had of the demon that included his nature as a dark creature, yet also seems too much like a human. the fond smile was almost permanently etched on his lips until he left the mass, and his heart drops again.

“hyung, does this church offer a service to heal someone who’s haunted by a demon?” he asks absently, just before he’s about to part from the senior.

soobin looks at him strangely, as if judging if he is still in his sane mind. “probably? but coming here itself should already help to put your heart at peace.”

perhaps taehyun is not much of a petty demon after all, since he is still haunting beomgyu long after his church visit.

==

and then one night, beomgyu snaps.

his anger comes in the form of countless circles drawn on the wall of his bedroom. the red ink from his brand new markers stains the wallpaper as well as his skin, covering the expanse of mint coloured paper until almost no space can be seen. they are all just interlaced circles, looking way too packed that the pentagram cannot be recognized anymore.

when he runs out of space to draw, a sob rises up his throat, and he crumples back onto the floor. exhaustion washes over him.

all he can see is the red colour, and it’s not the shade he craves to see. none of the red colour matches the shade of taehyun’s crimson hair. it’s a little baffling that it is the one thing he is the saddest about at this point. the one thing that pushes him into the verge of tears. his eyes blurring and his surrounding melts into disfigured shapes.

and then through the blur, he sees a movement of red.

“what the fuck are you doing? you’ve overdone yourself this time. one hundred and thirty three times, seriously?”

it sounds like taehyun. he sounds irritated. if only he is real, beomgyu wouldn’t mind to sit there and be the receiving end of his nagging. if only this is just not a figment of his imagination. a piece of his hope.

“yah, choi beomgyu?” taehyun’s voice softens a little, and beomgyu feels the presence near him. he flinches at the initial touch of cold fingers on his skin. it feels so real. yet also unreal, because the imaginary taehyun sounds concerned.

why would a demon be concerned about him?

“i just miss him a lot,” the words tumble off his lips without any filter, along with two drop of tears from his eyes. that clears his sight a little.

“do you want me to take the pain away, is that why you’re summoning me?”

with the panic suddenly rushing into his brain, the first instinct beomgyu acts on is to tackle his so called imagination, pushing him to the floor. only once he feels the solid cold body under his hands that he realizes taehyun’s really here.

the demon. clad in his neat suit and slicked up red hair. just like the first time they met.

“n-no! don’t take my feelings away!” he stammers, grabbing the front of taehyun’s shirt in his clenching fingers. “it makes me crazy, please… give it back. just let me hate you.”

taehyun stays silent for a bit, just staring up at the human while beomgyu takes in deep breaths, willing himself to calm down. only once he can breathe and see properly again that he sees the deep black color of taehyun’s eyes which calm him down.

“but hate was never there, beomgyu,” he says softly, placing his hand on top of beomgyu’s fist. “there was a lot of anger. but you never hated me.”

“i wish i could hate you,” he hiccups once more, preparing himself for the stream of questions pouring off his lips. the pent up questions he has had in his mind ever since the disappearance of the demon that left him with no closure. “why did you attack yeonjun hyung? why did you take away my feelings? why would you leave just like that? why did you not answer my summoning last time?”

taehyun stays silent throughout it all.

the answers only come later on as they both climbed to the rooftop of the house. just a human and his demon. not an unusual combination at all.

taehyun is giving him his back when he suddenly speaks up. his head tilted back so he can stare up at the blanket of starless sky. “isn’t it obvious? i didn’t want to see you sad.”

the sudden statement caught beomgyu off guard. he can’t even recall anymore the questions that he was asking, but from the way taehyun closes the discussion with that single answer, beomgyu assumed that it is the answer of all the questions.

it’s a weird concept, how a demon is the reason of his smile.

“hey, demon,” he calls out, earning an airy hum from the latter. “if i kissed you right now, would there be a chance that you might accidentally take away my feelings?”

taehyun turns his body around to face him, giving him a pointed look. “wouldn’t you like to know?”

there is no way of knowing for sure, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the demon actually feeds on his negative feelings right there. as their lips touched, there is a drop in beomgyu’s stomach, but not the heart aching one. it’s one akin to an exhilarating drop when you’re riding a thrilling ride at the amusement park, one that makes you want to scream out loud, but also smile when you’re at it.

so he does smile into the kiss, and he feels taehyun’s hand on his cheek. feeling the graze of blunt nails along his soft skin.

“taehyun."

the demon hums, reluctantly pulling away so he can look at the human.

can i clip the nails of your other hand too?” beomgyu asks once they parted, and oh, he really didn’t miss the way the demon’s eyes flash in anger. it’s like having a glimpse of hell itself.

but it’s okay, he figured.

maybe hell is not that much of a bad place.

(“so you purposely kept the pentagram as a secret, despite almost pissing your pants when i threatened you back in the bathroom.”

“maybe im always drawn to danger…”

“you’re a fool.”

“that’s why i like you so much.)

**Author's Note:**

> first time writing taegyu aaaaa i hope i write them well. i just really wanted to write this one prompt and it suits taegyu the most. 
> 
> tell me what you think!!! 
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/soogyulvr) / [cc](https://t.co/RvbVPTd9MG?amp=1)


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